Evan F. Moore: Baseball shooting victim Scalise owes life to those he wants to strip of liberties

Thursday

Jun 29, 2017 at 1:55 PMJun 29, 2017 at 1:55 PM

Evan F. Moore More Content Now

It has to be a weird feeling for a white man who has used racist and anti-gay rhetoric to have his life saved by a black man and a gay black woman.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana was one of five people shot when a gunman opened fire at congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, June 14.

Scalice spent several days in critical condition and was recently released from the intensive care unit. The Republican congressman owes his life to people whom he previously shamed: David Bailey and Crystal Griner — the U.S. Capitol Police officers who returned fire and killed the gunman.

In 2002, Salon reported that Scalise was an honored guest at a meeting of a white supremacist group founded by David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klansman. At the event, Scalise described himself as being like “David Duke, without the baggage.”

Scalise also does not believe that lesbians and gays should have full rights and equal citizenship in America. He has previously used legislation to back up his bigoted rhetoric by voting against “Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell,” the U.S. military’s former stance on gay military members, and when a federal judge upheld Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage as constitutional in 2014, Scalise called the ruling “an important win for marriage.”

In February, Scalise voted along with his House Republican colleagues to reverse a federal ruling aimed at preventing people with serious mental-health problems from buying guns.

One can only hope that Scalice uses this time of healing to think about the things he’s said and the causes he supported in the past.

Most likely, he won’t learn a thing and will double-down on the dog-whistle rhetoric he spouts.

Let me make this clear — no one deserves to get shot. However, if someone invites the foolishness they had a hand in creating, the blame should be placed into the nearest mirror.

— Evan F. Moore is a syndicated columnist with GateHouse Media. He writes about the intersection of race, violence and culture. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune and Ebony. Follow him on Twitter @evanfmoore.